Bullying drove her out of school, but 40 years later she returns and graduates

Mary Smith dropped out of school when she was only in Grade 8. 

Now, at the age of 55, the Cape Breton woman has earned a high school diploma and is graduating with top marks from the Nova Scotia Community College adult learning program.

"I proved to myself and the others who said I wasn't smart enough. I am smart enough. You don't give up; you stick to it," she says. "There were times I wanted to give up but I didn't."

Smith says she left education behind early in life and got a job babysitting five children for $50 a week after she encountered horrendous bullying in school.

"My times in school were not the easiest," she said. "I dealt, a lot, with bullying in school and not feeling good. By the time I got to Grade 7 and 8, I thought maybe the bullying would stop because you're in a higher school but it didn't stop. I eventually ended up quitting."

Smith attended elementary school in Little Narrows, Cape Breton, and went to Baddeck for Grade 7 and 8. Bullying was not taken as seriously then as it is now, she says, and it made no difference when she reported the problem to school officials. 

Driven from school

It wasn't only Smith who sacrificed her education for peace of mind; her siblings also ended up dropping out of school to escape bullies.

"Our childhood wasn't the best either. We weren't dressed properly. We were definitely the outcasts of the school," she reflected. "I came from a family where there was a lot of alcohol involved. It was hard.

"We were left out from a lot of things in our childhood. Our clothing wasn't up to top notch and even our cleanliness wasn't the best, so we were made fun of and it just escalated from there."

'Had to prove it to myself'

But she enjoyed learning and always longed to go back to school. After her four children were older, Smith decided to take the plunge and finish her education.

One of her sons was having trouble in high school and she says she thought she could show him school is important by going back herself to get a high school diploma.

"They said to me, 'Mom I am proud of you. We know you can do it.'"

Lots of support

"I always felt I wasn't smart enough and they knew I had it in me; I just had to prove it to myself."

Smith, who now lives in Dundee, enrolled in the Nova Scotia Community College Strait Campus adult learning program, but after two weeks back in the classroom, she says she began questioning herself.

She credits her husband, her instructors and the other students in the class with providing her with the support she needed.

"One of the things that boosted me was one of the other students in the class. He said, 'Wow, you're 55 and I'm 25 and you're in school. I quit school and,' he said, 'that's why I'm back here.'

"He said, 'You know what? If you're in school then I have to get this. If you're willing to work at it then I have to get this.' So it was nice, I felt like a role model for him."

Smith has graduated with marks high enough to get her name on the dean's list.

But what she says makes the entire experience more special is that her daughter Rhonda Smith will be graduating with her after completing a continuing care program.